Salmon returning in numbers to Russian River

Chinook salmon are returning to the Russian River this year in numbers that biologists see as a positive sign for the recovery of the fish.

"It's a good year," said Dave Manning, a principal environmental specialist with the Sonoma County Water Agency. "It is an indication ocean conditions have improved and also a real indication we are able to manage the river for the salmon."

With 2,002 fish already counted, the numbers are expected to reach 3,000 to 5,000 before the run ends in mid-December. That would be a strong return but still less than the peak seven years ago, Manning said.

In the Sacramento River, where the chinook salmon return is the benchmark for the determining a North Coast salmon fishing season, biologists said they are seeing a similar trend.

"What everybody is saying is it's a good year, whether you look at the Sacramento or Russian or the Columbia," said Bill Sydeman of Petaluma, president of the Farallon Institute for Ecosystem Research. "The returns are pretty high."

The question to be answered in the spring is whether there will be enough fish for the Pacific Fishery Management Council in Portland, Ore., to open the ocean for commercial fishing.

From 2007 to 2009 there was no season at all and this year it ranged from eight days of fishing south of Point Arena to longer periods going north.

Despite the encouraging numbers half-way through the the annual chinook run, Sydeman said the numbers may not be high enough.

The return "should support a limited fishery, better than this year, but I don't think enough for a full blown fishery .

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. it's only a partial recovery," Sydeman said. Chinook salmon are on the federal threatened species list and the largest of the salmon and steelhead that return to spawn every year in the Russian River, usually after spending three years in the ocean.Since 2000, the water agency has photographed and counted the fish as they move through the water agency's fish ladders near Forestville.As of Oct. 27, there were 2,002 chinook salmon counted, more than seen in the past three years and on pace to be in the top three or four. In 2002, 5,474 fish were counted, 6,103 in 2003 and 4,788 in 2004. Last year, 1,801 were counted.In the Sacramento River, 20,000 chinook have returned so far to the Coleman National Fish Hatchery in Anderson, more than double the number that returned for the entire season last year.Half of those are jacks, which are two-year-old fish returning a year early, an indication that the spawning run for 2011 also should be healthy, said Scott Hamelberg, hatchery project leader."We are definitely happy," Hamelberg said. "We can only remain optimistic the run sizes will be adequate."Sydeman said there were favorable ocean conditions in 2008, when the chinook that are returning this year would have migrated to the ocean as fingerlings, feeding initially on a particular variety of krill that live in the cold, near-shore waters.

Chinook salmon are on the federal threatened species list and the largest of the salmon and steelhead that return to spawn every year in the Russian River, usually after spending three years in the ocean.

Since 2000, the water agency has photographed and counted the fish as they move through the water agency's fish ladders near Forestville.

As of Oct. 27, there were 2,002 chinook salmon counted, more than seen in the past three years and on pace to be in the top three or four. In 2002, 5,474 fish were counted, 6,103 in 2003 and 4,788 in 2004. Last year, 1,801 were counted.

In the Sacramento River, 20,000 chinook have returned so far to the Coleman National Fish Hatchery in Anderson, more than double the number that returned for the entire season last year.

Half of those are jacks, which are two-year-old fish returning a year early, an indication that the spawning run for 2011 also should be healthy, said Scott Hamelberg, hatchery project leader.

"We are definitely happy," Hamelberg said. "We can only remain optimistic the run sizes will be adequate."

Sydeman said there were favorable ocean conditions in 2008, when the chinook that are returning this year would have migrated to the ocean as fingerlings, feeding initially on a particular variety of krill that live in the cold, near-shore waters.